Independent Senator Richard J. Gordon receives a drawing from three-year old Mohammed Saleh Wady, a Filipino-Palestinian who, along with his entire family, was among the 34 recently repatriated Filipinos from Gaza. Gordon said he will help Mohammed’s father, Saleh Soliman Wady, to acquire Filipino citizenship so he may continue to live in the Philippines with his wife of 21 years, Aisha Manlalangit-Wady, a Filipina, and their other children.
Philippine National Red Cross chairman and Senator Richard J. Gordon consoles Jona Teodosio and Irene Balore, families of overseas Filipino workers jailed in Nigeria since Nov. 12, 2008. Thirteen Filipino crewmen of the tanker MT Akuada were apprehended by the Nigerian Navy for allegedly conducting illegal oil transport operations on the behest of their Greek ship owner. Gordon called on the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), Philippine Overseas Employment Authority (POEA) and Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) to provide necessary assistance to the OFWs.
Foundations were used to cover up for the well-entrenched corruption scheme in the P728-million fertilizer fund scam, allegedly engineered by former agriculture undersecretary Jocelyn Bolante,Independent Senator Richard J. Gordon said today.
Gordon, chairman of the Senate blue ribbon panel, said the Senate probe into the fertilizer fund scam is now nearing its end with the scheme already being pieced together through the documentary and testimonial evidence presented by the witnesses..
“Sa palagay ko natatahi-tahi na natin. Nadikit-dikit na from the bank account all the way to Bolante. We can now trace the paper trail; foundations were used to launder money,” he said.
“We are now nearing the end of the investigation. We only need the other names mentioned to surface but what we have will already suffice,” he added.
During the 7th public hearing on the P728-million fertilizer fund scam, businessman Jaime Paule’s involvement in the fertilizer fund scam was established when Marilyn Araos testified she was ordered by Paule to open an account at the Land Bank-Elliptical Road Branch for Feshan Phils., the biggest supplier in the fertilizer project, and sign blank checks for the company.
She added that Paule threatened her that she would lose her job if she would refuse to comply with his orders. Araos is a “runner” for the said project for the local government units in Regions III and IV, where she gets one percent commission for every transaction.
Surprise witness Natalio Castillo Jr. disclosed how Paule approached him to finance the project and when he turned it down, he referred his friend Joselito Flordeliza for the use of his foundation, the National Organization for Agricultural Enhancement and Productivity, Inc.
Flordeliza, president of the foundation, also disclosed that the foundation would get three percent for every transaction that would be completed and that Paule recommended Marites Aytona to manage the project with the Department of Agriculture (DA) when Flordeliza said he was too busy to manage it.
Leonicia Llarena, owner of Dane Publishing, also testified that it was Paule who approached her to seek assistance in issuing checks for the project. Both Llarena and Paule and their respective families had been friends for some time.
Gordon said that the testimonies of the witnesses showed that a large chunk of the funds purportedly intended for the DA’s Farm Input-Farm Implement (FIFI) project ended up in some individuals’ pockets and that only a small part really went to the actual purchase of fertilizers.
The Ombudsman is derelict in its duty of investigating and filing appropriate charges against those government officials implicated in the P728-million fertilizer fund scam said Independent Senator Richard J. Gordon today.
Gordon, chairman of the Senate blue ribbon committee probing the anomalous project, said that despite having more than a thousand days to charge officials implicated in the project, the Ombudsman has failed to do so.
“The case has been here in the Senate for more than 1,019 days and up to now the Ombudsman has not filed a single case. If the case is under litigation, the bank secrecy law can be pierced because this is a serious matter of dereliction of duty,” he said.
If only the Ombudsman had filed a case against former agriculture undersecretary Jocelyn Bolante, Gordon explained that the government would have been able to look into his alleged 32 accounts before the freeze order on the accounts lapsed.
The accounts were frozen through the petition of the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) but were thawed after the six-month effectivity period of the freeze order expired last Dec. 20.
During the hearing on the fertilizer fund scam last Tuesday, Bolante admitted he was able to withdraw money from the accounts after it was unfrozen.
Invoking his right under the Bank Secrecy Law, Bolante declined to disclose how much and from which accounts he withdrew the money. He also refused to issue a waiver allowing authorities to look into his questioned accounts for the sake of transparency.
“Unfortunately, there seems to be dereliction of duty on the part of the Ombudsman. The Senate has been investigating this (issue) for more than 1,019 days in two Congresses, pero wala pang pina-file sapagkat kung merong kaso, hindi makukuha ang perang yan,” Gordon said.
The Senate blue ribbon committee’s probe under Gordon has unearthed strong documentary and testimonial evidence on Bolante’s direct participation in the implementation of the Department of Agriculture’s farm input-farm implement project.
During the Nov. 25 hearing of the committee, all DA regional directors testified they received respective memoranda signed by Bolante, which clearly stated the project proponents, whether local government unit or congressional district, to whom allotments were transferred.
Furthermore, Director Roger Chio of DA Region 11, said it was Bolante who signed a purchase request for 2,000 pieces of foliar fertilizer at P1,500 each.
Dir. Ricardo Oblena of Region 7 testified that Bolante had asked him to replace a non-government organization, named by the Kalibo local government as recipient of the funds, with the NGO National Organization for Agricultural Enhancement and Productivity Inc.
Meanwhile, new witness businessman Natalio Castillo Jr., who appeared in the hearing last Tuesday, said that Jaime Paule offered him to take part in the project.
Quite skeptical of Paule’s capability to obtain such a project, Castillo asked who his contact in the DA was. Paule told him it was Joc-Joc Bolante.
The Senate blue ribbon committee has asked the Department of Justice to issue a hold departure order (HDO) against businessman Jaime Paule, one of the alleged conspirators of the P728-million fertilizer fund scam.
Independent Senator Richard J. Gordon, committee chairman, made the request for HDO in a formal letter he sent to Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez aimed to prevent Paule from fleeing the country while he is still under investigation by the Senate.
“We have to request for a hold departure order because we have to make sure that Mr. Paule does not leave the country while he is still under investigation,” he said.
Gordon said the committee is taking all necessary actions so as not to give the witnesses a chance to flee from the Senate’s probe.
He noted that the Senate had been searching for Paule to testify before the hearings of the blue ribbon and agriculture committees of the 13th Congress, while the blue ribbon committee under his leadership also had a hard time looking for him since there are several other Jimmy Paules in the records of the National Bureau of Investigation
Gordon added that it was through the committee’s arrest order that prompted Paule to finally surrender to the Senate last Dec. 23 and testify before the panel yesterday.
The senator explained that Paule has been evasive and testifying falsely during the course of last Tuesday’s hearing as proven by the statements of almost all the other witnesses present in the inquiry.
The Senate committee is set to decide today whether to cite Paule in contempt and detain him, along with Marilyn Araos, who were both evasive in answering the panel’s questions thrown at them.
“The members of the committee agreed that Paule has been very evasive. It is the same with Araos. So depending on the consensus of the committee members, Paule and Araos may be cited in contempt,” Gordon said.
While Paule maintained that he does not know Araos and that he never worked with Marites Aytona for the Department of Agriculture’s farm input-farm implement project, the two witnesses testified in contrast.
Araos, the sole signatory in the bank account of Feshan Philippines, said she was ordered by Paule to open a bank account for Feshan Philippines, the biggest supplier in the project, and sign blank checks for the company.
She added that Paule threatened her that she would lose her job if she would refuse to comply with his orders. Araos is a “runner” for the said project for local government units in Regions III and IV, where she gets one percent commission for every transaction.
For her part, Aytona said it was Paule who asked her to make project proposals and was the one giving out instructions on which foundations would be accredited for the project.
Meanwhile, Leonicia Llarena, owner of Dane Publishing, also testified that it was Paule who approached him to seek assistance in issuing checks for the project. Both Llarena and Paule and their respective families had been friends for some time.
Gordon said a case for false testimony could be filed against Paule.
“It is possible that a false testimony case may be filed against him (Paule). Wala siyang pinapakita kundi denial. Ang false testimony pag na-prove yan, makukulong siya,” he said.
The recantation of Feshan Phils. President Julie Gregorio merely showed that a huge chunk of the funds purportedly intended for the Department of Agriculture’s (DA’s) Farm Input- Farm Implement (FIFI) project ended up in some individuals’ pockets, Independent Senator Richard J. Gordon said today.
Gordon, chairman of the Senate blue ribbon panel, said that based on Gregorio’s admission regarding the real cost of the fertilizers, only a small part of the fund really went to the actual purchase of fertilizers.
“Ms. Gregorio sold the fertilizers at P150 per bottle but some individuals passed it at P1,500 each. So this is enough proof that this fund was really stolen,” he said at the 7th public hearing on the P728-million fertilizer fund scam.
Gregorio, whose company was the largest supplier of fertilizer for P728-million fertilizer fund scam allegedly engineered by former agriculture undersecretary Jocelyn Bolante, recanted parts of her first testimony and apologized to the blue ribbon panel for her misleading statement.
She belied her earlier claim that the fertilizers cost P600 per bottle, admitting that they really only cost P150 each.
Gregorio also added that she found her earlier disclosure that the total amount deposited in Feshan’s Land Bank Elliptical Road Branch account was only P102 million to be false as she recently discovered when she requested for copies of the bank statements of the account, that total deposits actually amounted to P152.8 million.
Gordon said Gregorio’s recantation was clear.
“Ang recantation malinaw. Admission against interest practically yun dahil ang sinasabi niya nangyari ito dahil napilitan siya kasi gusto nyang ipagbili yung stock ng Feshan at nabigyan siya ng pagkakataon,” he said.
Gordon noted that the Feshan president apparently did not get a huge profit from the project.
“She earned a very meager profit. It also appears that she was not the signatory in the Feshan account but Marilyn Aytona, the friend of both Paule (Jaime) and Aytona (Marites). They signed the checks and the money was released,” he said..
“They also mentioned tax amnesty. It was clear that the tax amnesty was used to erase Feshan’s tax obligation or else Feshan would also pay for it,” Gordon added.
For failing to forewarn the Senate of the expiration of the freeze order on the 32 accounts of former agriculture undersecretary Jocelyn Bolante, the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) was admonished anew by Independent Senator Richard J. Gordon.
Gordon, chairman of the Senate blue ribbon committee, said that since the freeze order on the 32 alleged accounts of Bolante had effectively lapsed last Dec. 20, the former undersecretary was able to withdraw funds from it.
“The AMLC told the bank accounts about the expiration of the freeze order, but why not the Senate which is doing an investigation on the said accounts? They should have informed the panel too,” he said.
During the hearing, Bolante, the alleged architect of the P728-million fertilizer project, admitted that he already withdrew money from the accounts, although he refused to disclose how much and from which accounts he withdrew.
Bolante invoked the Bank Secrecy Law even as he refused to issue a waiver to allow authorities to look into his questioned accounts for the sake of transparency.
Gordon explained that had the AMLC told the Senate about it and had they filed a civil forfeiture case, the bank accounts would not have been unfrozen and Bolante would not be able to withdraw funds from it.
However, AMLC executive director Vicente Aquino said he did not feel it was his obligation or his civic duty to tell the panel about the impending expiration of the freeze order because no one asked him about it.
But Gordon said Aquino need not to be asked since it was part of AMLC’s duty to inform the panel since they are doing an investigation on the bank accounts.
“You don’t have to be asked,” he told Aquino in dismay.
The senator earlier reprimanded the AMLC for not taking necessary actions to prevent the thaw of Bolante’s bank accounts, which was unfrozen after the six-month effectivity of the Court of Appeals’ freeze order lapsed last Dec. 20, 2008.
Various government agencies should go after the recruiters of four Filipina-Muslim workers who were promised a job at Bahrain but were stranded in Bangkok, Thailand, independent Senator Richard J. Gordon ordered today.
Gordon made the directive to the Philippine Overseas Employment Authority (POEA), Overseas Workers Welfare Office (OWWA) and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).
“The POEA, OWWA and the NBI should help these individuals and they have to do something about it because this has happened a lot of times already,” he said.
“We have to take care of our people. Before our people leave the country and go abroad to work, the government agencies concerned must do their part in ensuring that these workers have proper documents and that they have coordinated with the POEA,” he added.
Gordon said the four overseas Filipino workers (OFWs)–Harnea Sanduyugan, Guiamela Esmael, Norhata Mentol and Nhoraisa Asi–sought help from the Philippine National Red Cross (PNRC) after they were stranded in Bangkok with no money for a plane back home.
He said that according to the victims’ statements, they were stranded at the Bangkok airport because they had no plane tickets to Bahrain. They had plane tickets back to Manila but they were not able to use because the tickets were not paid.
Out of the four victims, who all natives of Cotabato City, Mentol was the first to arrive at Bangkok on Dec. 21, followed by Sanduyugan and Esmael on Dec. 22 and the last was Asi on Dec. 23.
Gordon, chairman and chief executive officer of the PNRC, said that after the victims suffered hunger and the cold weather for several days and spending the holidays in a foreign country, they decided to seek help from the PNRC so they could come back home.
He added that the victims expressed fear against their recruiter Alex Omar, reportedly a member of the Philippine Army in Kabuntalan, Maguindanao, after they were told that they will have to pay P60,000 each if they would come back to the Philippines.
“These Filipinas have experienced suffering in a foreign land. As chairman of the PNRC, it is my duty to alleviate their suffering that is why I coordinated with Red Cross volunteers in Bangkok to help them. Today they have arrived here safely,” Gordon said.
“However, in my capacity as a senator, I have called on the POEA, OWWA and NBI to work on the cases of these victims and not only go after the recruiters but also implement measures that would prevent the same incident from happening again,” he added.
In November 2006 Gordon aided the repatriation of at least 240 OFWs from Kazakhstan who wanted to escape being caught in the middle of a bloody conflict between Kazakh and Turkish workers there. Gordon immediately tapped his contacts to help the trapped OFWs.
Also in November 2006, the senator urged the Department of Foreign Affairs to ask the Lebanese government to tell its citizens to refrain getting the passports of OFWs and preventing them from fleeing Lebanon as it is their human right to escape being caught up in the middle of a war.
Gordon, chairman of the Senate blue ribbon committee, requested AMLC Executive Director Vicente Aquino and Solicitor General Agnes Devanadera to clarify why no civil forfeiture case was filed against the Bolante accounts during the six-month effectivity of the freeze order.
“Six months, the maximum period of the freeze order the law allowed, had lapsed without a single civil forfeiture case being filed against Mr. Bolante. AMLC has been remiss on running after these suspicious Bolante accounts,” he said.
During the last Dec. 10 hearing on the P728-million fertilizer fund scam, Aquino has assured the senators that the AMLC is doing its job, although it admitted that it cannot divulge any information on its ongoing investigation.
“What AMLC should have done was that, while the assets have been frozen in the six-month period, they should have filed for preliminary attachment, forfeiture or extension, Clearly, this was not done by AMLC, and ergo, they are remiss of their duties,” he added.
The Court of Appeals initially issued a 20-day freeze order on Bolante accounts, and extended it further until Dec. 20, 2008 apparently to be able for AMLC to complete its comprehensive financial investigation of the questioned accounts.
The appellate court has yet to issue a certification that the questioned bank accounts may now be disposed off by Bolante, the alleged architect of the P728-million fertilizer fund scam.
“Now that the freeze order has already expired and there is no extension of the order, Bolante can no longer be prevented from withdrawing the funds. The legal impediment has now been practically lifted,” Gordon said.
Gordon said that for instance the AMLC, through the Solicitor General, should file for forfeiture under “The Rules of Procedure in Cases of Civil Forfeiture under Republic Act 9160″ and all legal actions available to prevent the thaw of the Bolante accounts since they (accounts) are imbued with public interest.
“These accounts could possibly involve money from the fertilizer fund the Senate is now investigating. In the interest of public accountability, these accounts should remain frozen,” he said.
He explained that the panel is now focused on revealing where the fund supposedly for the Department of Agriculture’s farm input-farm implement project really went.
During the Dec. 22 committee hearing, Feshan Philippines president Julie Gregorio revealed that while the company declared a P105-million sales of fertilizer from the government, the amount actually paid to them was only P50 million.
Gregorio added that the payment was deposited to an account opened at the Land Bank Philippines branch in Elliptical Circle in Quezon City under the name of a certain Malyne Araos.
“We already know that the P50 million went to Feshan. What we want to know is where the other P55 million went or who benefited from it. Since Ms. Araos is the only signatory of the bank account, she’d naturally know where it went,” he added..
Gordon said the committee is on the path of gradually revealing where the P105 million of the whole P728-million fund went. The next step, he added, would be to find out on whose hands the remaining P623-million landed.
Mallyn Araos is said to be the sole signatory of a bank account she purportedly opened for Feshan Philippines, the biggest supplier in the P728-million fertilizer project of the Department of Agriculture (DA)as such independent Senator Richard J. Gordon today expressed fear for her safety.
Gordon, chairman of the Senate blue ribbon committee, said he feared for Araos’ safety since she holds vital information on the extent of the fertilizer fund scam allegedly engineered by former agriculture undersecretary Jocelyn Bolante.
“We are trying to communicate with Mallyn Araos to convince her to face and testify at the Senate as soon as possible. We need to get her in the witness stand because she is the only one who knows where the money went,” he said.
At the last Senate hearing, Feshan president Julie Gregorio earlier told that while the company declared a P105-million sales of fertilizer from the government, the amount actually paid to the company was only a little more than P50 million.
Gregorio added that the payment was deposited to an account opened at the LandBank Philippines branch in Elliptical Circle in Quezon City under the name of Araos.
Gordon expressed fear for the safety of Araos and of the other witnesses who have yet to come forward, considering that two deaths - that of Marleen Esperat and Teofisto Mojica - were feared to be connected to the fertilizer fund scam.
“I worry for Ms. Araos. It would be better for Ms. Araos and other witnesses to come out so we can provide them protection,” he said.
Gordon earlier vowed to initiate a Senate investigation not only on the murder of former agriculture resident Ombudsman Marlene Esperat but also of a former agriculture employee Teofilo Mojica as he expressed suspicion that their murders may have been tied to the fertilizer fund scam.
Let us be the change our country needs
I extend my warmest greetings to my kababayans here and abroad as you, along with the rest of humanity, eagerly await the dawn of New Year 2009!
Each New Year is a symbol of hope and a herald for new beginnings. The year 2009 stretches across us like a horizon, filled with opportunities to be explored and challenges to be overcome. As we celebrate another milestone in our history, let us not forget the lessons we have learned from the past and continue to work together for the development of our country.
The New Year brings us closer to a time when we Filipinos will be called upon to direct our nation’s course through the 2010 national elections. Let us use the coming year to prepare and chart a course that will lead to the renewal of our country’s values. Let us chart a course for Bagumbayan where we will have a community of people who think, speak, and act for the common good; where everyone has asenso and kaginhawaan; and where Filipinos will find their future, not in foreign shores, but in their very own Filipinas!
The challenge for us now is to make Bagumbayan a reality. Let us all be volunteers in our quest to uplift the lives of our countrymen and be the catalyst for the implementation of much-needed national reforms. Let us be the change that this country needs!
Once again, I would like to wish everyone a prosperous and safe New Year! Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! Mabuhay ang mamamayang Pilipino!
